The care sector isn't well. Or rather: care providers' concerns about increasing work pressure, staff shortages and uncertainty due to government policy are rising. There is no obvious quick and immediate solution, but people are working on it. And not just in Brussels.
More work, fewer staff
In residential care homes and hospitals people have been calling for something to be done about the burden of the care workload for years. Only last year, four out of ten nurses indicated that, if they could choose again, they would go into a different profession (Standaard, 12/05/2018). Staff shortages and high workloads are the main reasons. The shortage is primarily caused by the ageing population and the number of care providers leaving the profession. Because there are relatively few new care providers coming into it, work pressure is increasing as a result. And this is further exacerbated by another phenomenon.
Care for relief
Today, older people continue living at home for longer. They only go into a residential care home when informal or home care is really no longer possible. As a result, the residents are less mobile and require more care and extra attention. And that takes time. Time that is not available. Not even in hospitals, because the government is aiming for increasingly shorter hospital admissions and is calling for fewer hospital beds (Knack, 07/02/2019). So the real question is: 'How can the sector continue to provide a high-quality and decent service?'. More resources and more people are the most frequently heard demands for maintaining a workable system. But a well-considered investment in innovative equipment to facilitate patient mobility - and the healing process - could also make things considerably easier for caregivers.
New mobility solutions
Manufacturers of care furniture like Moments are responding to this with solutions such as multifunctional care chairs.The INO armchair can be used as a stationary chair, a reclining chair, a treatment chair, an armchair bed or a mobile chair.With a few options and accessories it can easily be converted from a care version to a full home version. Such solutions can therefore offer a cost-efficient and ergonomic alternative to a care bed. In addition, they have been developed in such a way that the user feels comfortable in all circumstances and the caregiver can work with them easily. And ergonomics should not be overlooked, in view of the large number of physical complaints sustained by nursing staff (due to the amount of lifting and tilting operations they do). So, new mobility solutions can support the care sector, but it will take much more than that to restore calm entirely.